Machine body having an upper body capable of being positioned at any angle

ABSTRACT

A machine body includes a housing, an upper body capable of being statically positioned at a range of angles relative to the housing, and a hinge. The hinge includes a support shaft connected to the upper body, and a support block connected to the housing, the support block having a hole, and the support shaft passing through the hole and capable of moving up and down along the hole.

BACKGROUND OF INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a machine body, and more particularly,to a machine body having an upper body capable of being positioned atany angle.

2. Description of the Prior Art

Image processing devices such as scanners and multi-function peripherals(MFP) are applied widely nowadays. Most of the machine bodies have anupper part and a lower part. The upper part is a heavy body connected tothe housing of the machine body, and is capable of being lifted up. Theupper body often utilizes a restoring force of a connected spring whenit is positioned at an angle within a limited range. Please refer toFIG. 1. FIG. 1 is a perspective diagram of a prior art multi-functionperipheral 100. 110 is a housing. 120 is an upper body. 130 is a hingeconnected to the upper body 120 and the housing 110. The hinge 130includes two springs 132 and 134. The upper body 120 is connected to thehousing 110 through the hinge 130. The weight of the upper body 120generates a moment at the joint of the upper body 120 and the housing110. The moment increases while the angle between the upper body 120 andthe housing 110 decreases. A restoring force is generated when thesprings 132 and 134 are compressed, and the restoring force formsmoments along different directions to the joint of the upper body 120and the housing 110. If the moments provided by the hinge 130 arecomparable to the moment generated by the weight of the upper body 120when the upper body 120 is positioned at an angle A1 (not marked in FIG.1), the upper body 120 stays positioned at the angle A1. However, whenthe angle between the upper body 120 and the housing 110 decreases, themoments that the hinge 130 provides will gradually not be able tobalance the moment formed by the weight of the upper body 120. Pleaserefer to FIG. 2. FIG. 2 is a perspective diagram of the prior artmulti-function peripheral 100 illustrated in FIG. 1 when the upper body120 is positioned at a small angle. When closing the upper body 120, theupper body 120 swings toward the housing 110 quickly according togravity. This is because when the angle between the upper body 120 andthe housing 110 is as small as illustrated in FIG. 2, the moment at thejoint of the upper body 120 and the housing 110 increases and exceedsthe moments that the hinge 130 provides. Therefore, the upper body 120is not able to be positioned at that angle but keeps falling to land onthe housing 110 heavily. To avoid this, the user needs to support theupper body 120 and manually close it smoothly, or the supporting springs132 and 134 need to provide a larger moment such that the momentum ofthe upper body 120 can be reduced. However, the upper body 120 will tendto spring open when lifted up if the restoring force of the springs istoo large. In this case, the upper body can no more be positioned atangles other than the maximum angle, and the excessive upward bouncebrings an excessive stress to the springs 132 and 134 and their bases.The related elements are easily damaged according to the stress. In theprior art, the springs included in the hinge connecting the upper bodyand the housing may also be designed for being compressed when the upperbody is closed downward, and the upper body is fixed to the housing by ahook to overcome the restoring force of the springs. When unfasteningthe hook, the restoring force of the springs forces the upper bodyupward. The upper body in this design is not capable of being staticallypositioned at angles other than fully open and closed.

The upper body only capable of being positioned at specific angles, theuser needing to support the upper body manually when the upper body isclosing, and a closing hook being necessary are some of the main flawsin the prior art. Furthermore, the restoring force of the springsutilized to support the upper body brings excessive stress to thesprings and their bases. Therefore, the design of the hinge connectingthe upper body and the housing is often very complicated. The cost ofthis kind of machine body is accordingly high.

SUMMARY OF INVENTION

It is therefore a primary objective of the claimed invention to providea machine body having an upper body capable of being positioned at anyangle.

Briefly described, the claimed invention discloses a machine body havingan upper body capable of being positioned at any angle. The machine bodyincludes a housing, an upper body capable of being positioned at a rangeof angles relative to the housing, and a hinge. The hinge includes asupport shaft connected to the upper body, and a support block connectedto the housing, the support block comprising a hole, and the supportshaft passing through the hole and capable of moving up and down throughthe hole.

It is an advantage of the claimed invention that the upper body of themachine body is capable of being positioned at any angle. In the claimedinvention, the support shaft tightly fits the support block, hence thehinge can provide a stable supporting force no matter at what angle theupper body is positioned.

These and other objectives of the present invention will no doubt becomeobvious to those of ordinary skill in the art after reading thefollowing detailed description of the preferred embodiments that areillustrated in the various figures and drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective diagram of a prior art multi-functionperipheral.

FIG. 2 is a perspective diagram of the prior art multi-functionperipheral when the upper body is positioned at a small angle.

FIG. 3 is a perspective diagram of the present invention machine body.

FIG. 4 is a sectional perspective diagram of the present inventionmachine body.

FIG. 5 is a sectional diagram of a first embodiment of the presentinvention machine body when the upper body is closed.

FIG. 6 is a sectional diagram of a first embodiment of the presentinvention machine body when the upper body is open.

FIG. 7 is a sectional diagram of a second embodiment of the presentinvention machine body when the upper body is open.

FIG. 8 is a sectional diagram of an embodiment of the present inventionhinge.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Please refer to FIG. 3. FIG. 3 is a perspective diagram of the presentinvention machine body. 300 is a machine body of the present invention.310 is a housing. 320 is an upper body. 340 is a joint axle connected tothe upper body 320 and the housing 310. 336 is a rotation axle. Pleaserefer to FIG. 4. FIG. 4 is a sectional perspective diagram of themachine body 300 illustrated in FIG. 3 along a section line 4-4′. 330 isa hinge and includes a support block 334 and a support shaft 332. Thesupport block 334 comprises a hole 390, and the support shaft 332 passesthrough the hole 390 and is capable of moving up and down along the hole390. The support shaft 332 connects to the upper body 320 and tightlyfits to the support block 334 through the hole 390. Please refer to FIG.5. FIG. 5 is a sectional diagram of the present invention machine body300 when the upper body 320 is closed. Please further refer to FIG. 6.FIG. 6 is a sectional diagram of the present invention machine body 300when the upper body 320 is open. As illustrated in FIG. 6, when theupper body 320 is lifted up, the support shaft 332 is raised upaccordingly since the support shaft 332 is connected with the upper body320, the support block 334 rotates around the rotation axle 336 inconsequence since the support block 334 tightly fits the support shaft332, and the support shaft 332 remains in the hole 390 of the supportblock 334. As the support shaft 332 remains tightly fit to the supportblock 334, the supporting force provided by the hinge 330, that is, thesupporting force from the tight fit between the support shaft 332 andthe support block 334 is identical, no matter at what angle the upperbody 320 is positioned. Therefore, as long as the moment to the jointaxle 340 generated by the supporting force provided by the hinge 330 isable to overcome the moment to the joint axle 340 generated by theweight of the upper body 320, the upper body 320 included in the machinebody 300 is capable of being statically positioned at any angle.

As illustrated in FIG. 5 and FIG. 6, the hole 390 comprised in thesupport block 334 is a cylindrical hole, and the support shaft 332 is acorresponding cylinder tightly fitting to the support block 334 throughthe hole 390. Since the hole 390 comprised in the support block 334 andthe support shaft 332 are cylindrical, the support block 334 has to berotatably connected with the housing 310. Therefore, when the supportshaft 332 is raised along with the lifting of the upper body 320, thesupport block 334 consequently rotates around the rotation axle 336. Inconsequence, the support shaft 332 is capable of remaining tightlyfitting the support block 334 at a lower section as illustrated in FIG.6. No matter what section of the support shaft 332 fits the supportblock 334 tightly, the moment and the damping provided by the tight fitare fixed as long as the tightness of the fit and the length of thesection of the shaft that fits the support block are constant.

Besides the hinge that comprises a straight cylindrical support shaftand a support block with a corresponding straight cylindrical hole, thepresent invention can also utilize a hinge that comprises a curvedcylindrical support shaft and a support block with a correspondingcurved cylindrical hole. Please refer to FIG. 7. FIG. 7 is a sectionaldiagram of a second embodiment of the present invention machine bodywhen the upper body is open. 500 is a machine body including a housing510, an upper body 520 and a hinge 530. The upper body 520 connects tothe housing 510 through a joint axle 540. The hinge 530 comprises asupport block 534 and a support shaft 532, wherein a hole 590corresponding to the support shaft 532 is included in the support block534. The support shaft 532 is connected with the upper body 520. Thesupport shaft 532 passes through the hole 590 and tightly fits to thesupport block 534. Compared to the hinge 330 illustrated in FIG. 5, inthe hinge 530, the hole 590 is a curved hole corresponding to the arcalong which the upper body 520 is lifted up, and the support shaft 532is a curved shaft corresponding to the curved cylindrical hole 590.Therefore, the support block 534 can be fixed to the housing 510, andthe support shaft 532 can still move up and down along the hole 590along with the lifting and lowering of the upper body 520, and canprovide a stable supporting force and moment to the upper body 520.

Please refer to FIG. 8. FIG. 8 is a sectional diagram of an embodimentof the present invention hinge. 630 is a hinge of the machine body. 632is a support shaft. The hatched area is a support block 634. The supportshaft 632 is cylindrical and the area of the cross section of a sectionof the support shaft 632 is smaller than the rest of the support shaft632. The section of smaller area does not tightly fit but loosely fitsthe support block 634. For the machine bodies illustrated in FIG. 5,FIG. 6 and FIG. 7, no matter at what angle the upper body is positioned,the section of the support shaft that passes through the hole of thesupport block tightly fits the support block. The supporting force andthe moment provided by the support shaft 332 and the support block 334are identical accordingly, so the upper body 320 is capable of beingpositioned at any angle from fully open to fully shut. However, thesupport shaft of the present invention can also have a section of whichthe area of the cross section is smaller, such as the support shaft 632illustrated in FIG. 8. There are various applications for this. Forexample, when the upper body is positioned at a small angle, A2, it isoften the case that the upper body is going to be lifted up continuouslyor be moved down continuously since it is useless for it to remain openat such a small angle, A2. The positions of the support shaft and thesupport block at this moment is just like those shown in FIG. 8. Theupper section of the support shaft 632 has a smaller area of its crosssection, and the upper section fits the support block 634 loosely.Therefore, a force weaker than the force generated by a section thatcompletely tightly fits the shaft block is provided, so that the upperbody cannot be positioned at the angle A2. However, there is still afriction force between the support block 634 and the support shaft 632,so a moment and a supporting force that help the upper body to lowersmoothly still exist.

In summary, the aforementioned hinges are utilized in the presentinvention to make the upper body of the machine body, such as amulti-function peripheral or a scanner, capable of being staticallypositioned at any angle and being lifted up and closed smoothly. Themachine body utilizes a force and a moment provided by a tight fitbetween a support block and a corresponding support shaft to support theupper body. The area of the cross section of the present support shaftmay be varied to adjust the supporting force and moment. The housing,the upper body and their joint do not receive stress as in theconventional machine bodies. For tightly fitting the support shaft, thematerial of the support block may be chosen from abrasion resistingmaterials, such as polyurethane rubber (PU rubber). The hinge of thepresent machine body may comprise one or a plurality of support shaftsand a support block, wherein the support block comprises one or aplurality of corresponding holes, or the hinge may comprise a pluralityof support blocks for fitting the plurality of support shafts. Thus, thepresent invention provides a machine body having an upper body capableof being statically positioned at any angle. The structure of the hingeof the machine body is simple and not susceptible to damage, and thecost is low. The flaws of the prior art, namely that the upper bodycannot be positioned at angles beyond a limited range and the highstress received by the joint of the housing and the upper body, aresolved.

Those skilled in the art will readily observe that numerousmodifications and alterations of the device may be made while retainingthe teachings of the invention. Accordingly, the above disclosure shouldbe construed as limited only by the metes and bounds of the appendedclaims.

1. A machine body comprising: a housing; an upper body capable of beingpositioned at a range of angles relative to the housing; and a hingecomprising: a support shaft connected to the upper body; and a supportblock connected to the housing, the support block comprising a hole, andthe support shaft passing through the hole and capable of moving up anddown along the hole.
 2. The machine body of claim 1 wherein the supportblock is rotatably connected to the housing.
 3. The machine body ofclaim 1 wherein the hole is a cylindrical hole and the support shaft isa cylindrical shaft.
 4. The machine body of claim 1 wherein the area ofthe cross section of the support shaft is constant over the length ofthe support shaft.
 5. The machine body of claim 1 wherein the materialof the support block comprises rubber.
 6. The machine body of claim 1wherein the support shaft tightly fits the support block.
 7. The machinebody of claim 1 wherein at least one section of the support shafttightly fits the support block.
 8. The machine body of claim 1 housing amulti-function peripheral.
 9. The machine body of claim 1 housing ascanner.